Anonymous- "Thesaurus of Loneliness"

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after craig arnold’s uncouplings 

Let’s be alone as another way to say let’s 

be together. The cracked vase another 

way to say maybe we should have

left each other alone. Don’t leave me lonely, 

the lover painted on the TV says,

another way of saying Don’t leave me alone. 

I was in the room and you were there and 

we were alone, meaning we were 

sharing our loneliness, passing it between us 

like a stubbed cigarette or half a bottle of soda 

sharing some secret sadness 

some maudlin hunger 

a shameful reassurance to be seen 

to say You were here 

In the morning asking 

what about sleep makes two people whole 

Asking what’s the half-life of loneliness? 

A way of transfiguring: sell, illness, one, only, line 

let’s anagram our names 

fuse coupled, return as ashes 

leaving alone only the ache of sadness 

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